Meditation in Life: Chapter 4
Class Notes | November 6, 2018
Class Notes by Primary Writer: Suriya Sharma
Saving/Investing = Tapah, Doing/Sharing — Daana
The more you invest in yourself, the more you can share
Need for yama (don’ts) and niyama (do’s)
Sukham = good space
We need to create space for us to figure out why we’re here. what we should be doing
Tat = they are the subject
Those who invest fully in the subject are happy once and for all
Spirit enveloped in matter
An experience is object plus subject plus relationship
Focus on the subject
What is there that is inside? We need to remove our outside layers and focus on what is inside of us. There are 7 layers (dhaatus) to us. That which is irremovable = Aatman = Aananda
We are not happy, we are Happiness. Priya = joy that is experienced when you have virtues, discipline, passion for self-development. Moda = experienced when we engage in mananam or reflection, become more introverted. Pramoda = when one is engaged in contemplation (nidhidhyasana): feel the happiness. When this becomes automatic, we have reached Aananda.
This removal/renunciation = tyaaga = remove actions, family, and achievements. Not of the actual object but of the dependency on them for our happiness. Stop depending on external things like opinions, standards, achievements, validations, personalities, actions
Happiness comes from me, and I am Happiness. We need a rishi to hold our hand and guide us in this removal process. Thoughts depend on the spirit, the spirit does not depend on the thought.
Food sustains us, creates us, then destroys us. Is the food sheath who I am? Is this body who I am? Is how I look who I am? Then why do I identify with its ups and downs? Why do I look in the mirror so much? We don’t need more heavy duty theory, we need the theory to go deeper. How do I invest less in my food sheath? Depend on the body for functionality, not happiness. We learn from every experience: there’s no such thing as a wrong decision. Break the connection between failure and sorrow.
RAW: Time yourself in not moving your body at all and hold your breath.
Notes by Deepa Sriram
We have to create space (sukam- good space) in our life to figure out why we are here and what we are supposed to be doing? If we don’t engage in tapa and doing what we should be doing then there is adharma. We need to invest in ourselves(focus on the subject and not the object) in order to give more.
In Avadhuta Upanishad Avadhutta is explained as: A — Akshara– one who is invincible, Va Varenya- most brilliant, Dhut- Dhuta Samsara bandhana- the one who is free from any limitation, Ta- Tat- they are the subject and have completed the purpose of living. Avadhutta means one who is Invincible, illustrious free and complete. People who invest in themselves are Avadhuttas, they are happy and free.
Spirit is subject and matter the object. Living is an experience which has an object a relationship and Subject. We have to live focused on the subject in the object oriented world, this is possible by internalizing our knowledge about Vedanta. We have to remove the layers until we reach into the innermost layer, our spirit. This removal is called Tyaga/ renunciation. We have to begin moving inward and keep going inside until there is no more “inside”. There are 7 layers / dhatus of Skin, flesh, Fat, Muscle, Blood, Bone, Marrow. Thoughts, mind, intellect are the other layers that we have to remove in order to reach the layer which one cannot remove. We now move from the object to the subject, we shift from becoming to being. The state where we are not happy we are happiness. We are Aathman.
How we go from dependent joy to independent joy according to Avadhutta Upanishad is described as follows
Priya- joy that is experienced when we have passion/ discipline about self development, one experiences relatively independent joy. This is Shravana/ introspection.
Moda- Experienced when one engages manana/reflection. We become more introvert.
Promoda- When we are engaged in nidhidhyasana/contemplation. Where we begin to experience that we feel we are happiness. When Promoda comes easy, that is when we have reached the irremovable/ ananda / independent joy. The removal / Tyaga is not of the object but the dependency on the object for happiness.
There are 3 shariraas Sthula, Linga, Karna and 5 koshas Anamaya kosha, Pranamaya kosha, Manomaya kosha, Vigyanmaya kosha, Anandmaya kosha. We invest a lot in this body — eating and pampering ourselves. If we give importance to the food we eat, it will be exponentially difficult for us to even cross the anamaya kosha and get to the next kosha. It is important to remember that this body is a means for us to merge into the Aathman,
Notes by Jyoti Sagar
More savings less doing — home depot slogan but very profound if we apply to Vedanta meaning investing in tapa by doing shravana daily will lead to sukha ( independent joy). We have to stop doing the don’ts (yama) and start doing the do’s (niyama) to be in joyous space fir which we were born to be. If we don’t engage in tapa then there is only selfishness — adharma because when we are giving less we are investing in ourselves less that means we are more focus on subject than object.
The purpose of human life is to be Avaduta which means invisible, illustrious free and complete life for us to attain happiness once and for all. Studying and practicing Vedanta (which means to know us from inside) can get us there, by reorienting our life from object to subject. When we talk about renunciation (tyaga) we have to remove actions (karma), praja (family), and dharma from our lives meaning not the tyaga of actual object (karma, praja, dharma) but our dependency on them if we want independent joy. To be able to do that we also need Guru or Rishi to hold our hand (apart from studying and practicing Vedanta) and guide us in this process of tyaga. Like Lord Krishna said in Bhagvad Gita “they are in me I am not in them or as swami Tejomaynanda states that we are dependent on lord the lord is not dependent on us.
We wear several layers of clothing to envelope your naked self, like that individual consists of several layer of sheaths or koshas enveloping our core or spirit or atman. We have 7 layers of dhatus in our body starting from flesh — fat- muscle- blood –bone- marrow, and if we go deeper it’s thought mind and intellect. Atman the divine spark of life is the last irremovable layer so man is nothing but spirit or atman enveloped in matter.
The layers we move from dependent joy to independent joy are
1 Priya- when we have virtue and independent joy that is introspection and shravana.
2 Modha — when one engages in manana or self-reflection.
3 Pramodha — when one is engaged in contemplation or nidhidyanam , we get happiness without a thought as pramodha is irreplaceable with continuous ananda.
Atman is most subtle and it envelops all and none envelopes it, it’s all prevailing. This life center in each one of us is the sacred spot where all activities emanate without this core vitalizing our mind body and intellect we are nothing. We have 3 shareras– the gross body, subtle body and causal body. This Atman is covered over 5 layers of sheaths or koshas which gives it semblance of life Food sheath is the outermost layer, the lining is Vital sheath, then comes Mental sheath, intellect sheath and the most subtle sheath is Bliss.
Food sheath is the outer most layer and is referred to physical body, we have become food as we eat food to produce organs which help in birth, then we eat food to grow and exist, while dying we are eating food in some form and after death we become food. This proves that we should not depend on the body for happiness as it is false. So don’t give body more than it needs it is just an outer layer not our only layer and taking care of food sheath our physical body will not help in independent joy which is the sole purpose of our existence.
Hence Atman is enveloped by matter of varying degree of grossness the outmost shell the grossest is the body but almost all through our conscious existence we go about considering ourselves to be only this body.
Notes by Rita Patel
Introduction
We can take the Home Depot slogan “More saving , more doing” to help us think deeper.
· “More saving” is investing, investing in ourselves or tapah
o Tapah is knowing/following yamas ( the don’ts or stops) and niyama (the ‘dos” or starts)
o Once we stop the don’ts, we can start the do’s and create sukham (“su” means good, “kham means space; so, good space)
· Once we figure out (through tapah) why we are here and what we should be doing, we can practice “more doing” or daana (sharing)
Those who practice tapah and daana fully are rare
· Focused on the subject fully
· This type of person is explained in Avadhuta Upanishad as:
o “a” means akshara, the one who is invinicible
o “va” stands for varenya, that which is the most brilliant
o “dhu” or “dhut”, the one who has let go, who has been freed of any limitation or conditioning
o “ta”, is tat, they are the subject, the purpose of living has been completed
o Happy once and for all!
Chapter 4: Spirit Enveloped in Matter
· Spirit is “Atman” which means that which is closest relative to everything else or that which is ananda or the Real you or independent joy.
o In order to move closer to the Spirit and realize who we really are, we have to move from dependent to independent joy. This is explained in Avadhuta Upanishad as starting with:
§ Priya: virtuous, insightfuly; passionate for self-development which leads to or is a result of introspection; experience a relatively independent joy
§ Modha: experienced when one engages in reflection and the teaching becomes part of you; leads you closer to ananda
§ Pramodha: experienced through contemplation, the feeling that you are happiness becomes effortless and ananda is re-discovered!
o Tyaga leads to independent joy.
§ Tyaga is the removal of the dependency on articles, beings, and circumstances (ABCs) for happiness
§ The subject does not depend on the objects; the objects depend on the subject
o The flow of Meditation in Life
1. Focus on the subject through study of Vedanta
2. Move inward until you reach the Spirit
3. Remove layers and dependency on ABCs (tyaga)
· Matter is everything else and not you! This includes the gross (body and all its functions), subtle and causal bodies.
o Once our clothing is removed, what is found when we go further inward? Nirvana shatkam explains this as saptadhatu (7 layers): skin, then flesh, then fat, then muscle, then blood, then bone, then bone marrow
o Further inwards than that is the mind, the intellect; we have to keep removing any conditioning until we reach that which cannot be removed, the Spirit!
o Explained through the 5 layers of matter (pancakosas) that envelop our Spirit
o The first layer is the most obvious and makes up the gross body. It is called annamaya kosa or the food sheath. Why food?
§ It is because of food that we are born and are sustained.
§ Once the physical body dies, it perishes back into earth and becomes food again.
§ We all intellectually “know “ that who we are is not this food sheath; however when we introspect and think of all the time, money and effort that goes into maintaining this physical body, we really don’t know this.
